Why don't you start by telling us about the techniques you're using. Do you bake on a stone? Are you making a very slack dough? Are you getting a good rise? Are you using a couche? How are you shaping it?

-Degassing the dough too much while shaping
-Not heating the stone long enough before baking
-Dough not wet enough

Are you using a steam pan, and spritzing down the walls of the oven in the first few minutes of baking to generate lots of steam? I use a little squirt bottle and shoot a stream of water at each wall. Generates lots of steam, and I get a nice, thick crust. Just be careful not to squirt your stone, or the oven light :)

After that, I'm out of ideas :) Do you have a picture of the interior of your bread to post?

Ciabatta is not football shaped. It means "slipper", not football. Kind of low (flat) and almost rectangular in shape. There are so many variables. Check out "the bread bible" by Rose Levy Beranbaum at your library and try her ciabatta. No couche. If fact I don't recall a recipe for ciabatta that uses one. It uses a starter. I feel this is required for a flavorful, larged holed ciabatta. As I've said before this recipe produces consistant results for me. I've had to reduce the final rise to 45 minutes to control the size of the holes (too big). It will be hard to pinpoint your problem without knowing all that you are doing, including the recipe. It's a great bread and please don't give up.

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